Visits to downtown Vancouver dropped in 2024, while the number of vacant storefronts rose

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 04, 2025 6:41 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

A caller study from Vancouver's Downtown Business Improvement Association says visits to the city's downtown territory took a 7.8 per cent downturn successful 2024 compared to a twelvemonth earlier.

According to Downtown Van's Annual State of Downtown report, the diminution is the archetypal since 2020. 

"This shift, on with changes successful different indicators, signals the extremity of the post-pandemic betterment signifier and the opening of a caller chapter: 1 that requires a proactive and strategical approach," the study says.

"More importantly, what lies up requires america to determination beyond a mindset of recovery, and toward the extremity of prosperity."

While 1 information constituent does not marque a trend, determination are others that bespeak a wide nonaccomplishment successful the vibrancy of downtown.

The fig of vacant storefronts is growing, up from 13.7 per cent successful 2023 to 14.9 per cent successful 2024. That's 4 points higher than the citywide complaint of 9.9 per cent.

The study notes Granville Street continues to conflict with persistent storefront vacancies, "creating challenges for its occurrence arsenic an amusement district." In 2024, astir a 3rd of the Granville strip's storefronts were vacant astatine 29.3 per cent, up from 22.1 per cent a twelvemonth earlier. 

The study singles retired the nonaccomplishment of The Bay, a downtown anchor and magnet for shoppers for implicit 110 years.

Vancouver's flagship store is acceptable to beryllium vacated by June 30 aft the institution filed for creditor extortion past period —more atrocious quality for retail and edifice businesses successful the downtown's cardinal core.

"Smaller businesses thin to trust connected the large drivers," retail concern analyst David Ian Gray told CBC earlier. "If you're a small sandwich store benignant of tucked successful determination on Nordstrom (closed successful June 2023) and the Bay, you're not going to beryllium doing rather truthful well."

Retail businesses saw a alteration successful mean play income successful 2024 of 1.9 per cent. Restaurants fared adjacent worse, with a 6.5 per cent driblet versus 2023. 

WATCH | Frustrated concern owners measurement successful connected metropolis revitalization plans: 

But not each numbers successful the study were negative. 

Taylor Swift's 3 performance stops successful Vancouver past December sparked an mean 26 per cent summation successful downtown spending for the duration and helped capable the city's hotels. 

Overall, downtown Vancouver's 2024 edifice occupancy complaint matched pre-pandemic levels astatine 80.4 per cent, according to the report. 

"Accelerated edifice task approvals by section governments would beryllium indispensable for capitalizing connected Vancouver's increasing tourism demand," it says. 

A beardown transit strategy was cited arsenic helping downtown Vancouver stay resilient, with a 2.1 per cent mean summation successful regular transit boardings crossed each services.

The president and CEO of Downtown Van said 2025 commercialized conflicts person resulted successful an further "unsettling furniture of uncertainty" that requires the metropolis and concern assemblage to emergence to the challenge.

"This means reducing barriers to doing concern successful Vancouver, re-localizing proviso chains, gathering caller strategical partnerships some locally and globally, and investing successful the economic, cultural, and societal halfway of our region," said Jane Talbot.

Downtown Van is simply a non-profit enactment that represents 8,000 businesses and spot owners successful the cardinal 90-block country of Vancouver's downtown core.